A significant share of the higher-than-normal salmonella infections in Colorado this summer are linked to a multistate outbreak involving jalapeños served at Chipotle and Qdoba restaurants, the state health department said Wednesday.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 110 cases of salmonella appear to be part of the outbreak. The number could increase as the state lab continues testing samples, spokeswoman Kayla Glad said.
The state recorded 250 salmonella cases in July, which is about twice the average for that month.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that the outbreak started with jalapeños grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, and supplied by Coast Citrus Distributors.
Jalapeños linked to a US salmonella outbreak are tracked to a Mexican farm and a distributor
At least 345 people in 27 states came down with the same strain of salmonella, the agency said. Colorado and Minnesota, which also has 110 cases, together account for more than 60% of the cases nationwide.
No one has died, but 36 people needed hospital care.
Chipotle and Qdoba , so people don't need to avoid their restaurants at this point, Glad said.
In a brief statement Tuesday, Chipotle maintained that the “health and safety of our guests and employees is our highest priority” — and that it had pulled the jalapeños out of an abundance of caution and “replaced them with product from different growers” in all locations where a previous common lot had been distributed.
Qdoba, in its own statement Wednesday, said it had "proactively removed jalapeños from all our restaurants at this time," adding, "Food safety is our highest priority."
Coast Citrus has recalled the affected lots of jalapeños. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still investigating whether any went to supermarkets and might be in consumers' fridges.
Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhea, fever, vomiting and stomach cramps, sometimes leading to dehydration. Most people recover within a week. Infections can be more severe in young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
Between 2015 and 2018, a series of foodborne illness outbreaks involved Chipotle. The company in those cases, but the CDC noted the restaurant chain isn't at fault in this outbreak.
The country has had a difficult summer for foodborne illnesses.
A involving eggs sickened at least 98 people and hospitalized 26. The CDC linked one case in Colorado to that outbreak, .
Separately, an outbreak of illness caused by the parasite cyclospora has -- not including Colorado. Michigan is the most severely affected. Investigations linked that outbreak to iceberg lettuce shipped to Taco Bell, supermarkets and other restaurants.
Typically, the U.S. has about 2,800 cyclospora cases annually, according to The New York Times. So far, the CDC has confirmed 10,400 cases and is investigating 11,500 more.
Despite not being part of the mulitstate outbreak, Colorado has seen more cyclospora cases than typical this year, with 241 confirmed cases and four hospitalizations, Glad said.
About three-quarters of the people sick with cyclospora had traveled overseas during their exposure window, and public health investigators haven't found any in-state outbreaks among the remaining cases, she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
